ASU and Applied Materials open MTF Center to fuel chip innovation
With SEMICON West and a $270M research center debuting the same week, Arizona reshapes the future of microelectronics
Arizona State University President Michael Crow speaks at the October ribbon-cutting ceremony for the $270 million Materials-to-Fab Center, part of ASU’s MacroTechnology Works facility in Tempe, Arizona. The new center, a collaboration between ASU and Applied Materials, combines innovative research with industrial knowledge to accelerate advancements in microelectronics. Photographer: Charlie Leight/ASU
On October 9, Arizona State University and Applied Materials welcomed dignitaries, researchers and industry leaders to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new $270 million Materials-to-Fab Center, or MTF Center, located in the ASU Research Park in Tempe, Arizona.
Speakers included Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, ASU President Michael Crow and from Applied Materials’ President of the Semiconductor Products Group Dr. Prabu Raja, who each underscored the significance of the collaboration for Arizona and beyond..
“Universities are the foundation of America’s semiconductor innovation pipeline, and we look forward to bringing together ASU’s world-class engineering teams with Applied Materials technologists and ecosystem partners at the Materials-to-Fab Center,” Raja says. “These collaborations will focus on accelerating development of new chip technologies that are crucial to U.S. leadership in AI, high-performance computing and other megatrends shaping the future.”
The MTF Center will serve as a critical research and development hub for future generation semiconductor technologies and act as a testbed for transitioning microelectronics discoveries from early-stage research to industry-ready applications — a notoriously difficult phase of development known as the “valley of death” of research and development.
According to Seth Ariel Tongay, a professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, the MTF Center’s mission is to help promising academic breakthroughs cross this chasm.
“We’re taking technologies from the early discovery phase to the point where they’re ready for real-world use,” Tongay says. “That’s the stage where many great ideas tend to stall. This center is designed to make sure they don’t.”
ASU Knowledge Enterprise Principal Process Engineer Stanislau Niauzorau holds a wafer inside a cleanroom at MacroTechnology Works. Photographer: Samantha Chow/ASU
A hub of possibility
Tongay’s own work in the center focuses on a fascinating new class of materials known as two-dimensional, or 2D, semiconductors. These materials are just a few atoms thick, or so thin they’re essentially flat. They hold enormous promise for powering the next generation of technologies, from lightning-fast AI processors to cutting-edge quantum devices.
But developing these materials and turning them into usable technology are two very different things and that’s where the MTF Center stands apart.
What makes the MTF Center so special is that it combines university-led scientific research, industrial-grade manufacturing equipment and tools that are typically only found in top-tier commercial fabs. That’s incredibly rare in an academic setting. Inside the facility, Tongay and his team have access to leading-edge machines like plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition systems.
This technology allows researchers to precisely “grow” atom-thin semiconductor materials onto surfaces, layer by layer, like building with LEGO bricks at the atomic scale.
Once the materials are created, they can be studied using advanced metrology tools that analyze everything from chemical composition to electrical performance. This full-stack capability, from synthesis to testing to prototyping, all under one roof, allows researchers to rapidly iterate and refine their ideas in ways that are directly aligned with industry needs.
“This kind of setup is almost unheard of in a university setting,” Tongay says. “Most research labs stop at discovery. The MTF Center lets us go further. We can take those discoveries and develop them into real, manufacturable technologies.”
The MTF Center pushes the boundaries of science and helps build the bridge that takes breakthroughs out of the lab and into the real world.
ASU electrical engineering master’s student Shreenidhi Anand walks through a cleanroom holding a wafer at MacroTechnology Works. Photographer: Samantha Chow/ASU
SEMICON West heads to the desert
The MTF opening wasn’t just a milestone for ASU. It’s part of a broader shift in national focus. SEMICON West, the semiconductor industry’s premier conference, is being held in Phoenix from October 7–9, marking the first time it’s ventured outside the Bay Area in more than five decades. The move is a recognition of Arizona’s surging semiconductor ecosystem, which has attracted over $200 billion in capital investment and created nearly 16,000 jobs since 2020.
The collaboration between ASU and Applied Materials will be front and center throughout the conference, where research leaders, policymakers and technology giants will converge to shape the future of microelectronics. ASU faculty members are presenting research at SEMICON West, including projects funded through the university’s relationship with Applied Materials.
Research at the edge of innovation
At the heart of the ASU-Applied collaboration are visionary research projects that tackle some of the semiconductor industry’s toughest challenges.
In the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Emeritus Professor Baoxin Li is developing AI systems to detect anomalies and enhance image clarity in semiconductor manufacturing, leveraging techniques he first applied to medical imaging. His work with Applied Materials promises to make production faster, more reliable and more adaptive.
Meanwhile, Kookjin Lee, a Fulton Schools assistant professor of computer science and engineering, is using scientific machine learning to create digital twins of plasma chambers. These virtual models will be able to predict how microchip components behave in real time. This work not only improves efficiency but could also cut down on manufacturing costs and waste.
Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools and ASU Senior Vice Provost of Engineering, says that the space is a powerful element of a high-impact initiative.
“These researchers aren’t working in isolation,” Squires says. “They’re embedded in a pipeline that flows from the lab bench to the production line.”
Why Arizona matters
The MTF Center and SEMICON West together signal a shift in the geography of innovation.
Long associated with Silicon Valley, the semiconductor industry is now recognizing Arizona’s unique strengths: a growing talent base, a pro-business climate and strong public-private partnerships. With industry titans like Applied Materials investing in the region, and with ASU rising as a major force in tech research and workforce development, Arizona is redefining what it means to be a microelectronics hub.
Squires says that the MTF Center opening is about more than one event or one facility.
“It’s about Arizona staking its claim as a national and global leader in the technologies of the future,” he says. “Arizona is doing more than keeping up. We’re setting the pace.”
From atom-thin materials to AI-powered manufacturing, from bold investments to trailblazing discoveries, the collaboration between ASU and Applied Materials is more than just a model for innovation.
ASU President Michael Crow says that the MTF Center is a blueprint for how regions can rise and how big ideas become industry realities.
“The alliance between a global industry leader like Applied Materials and a leading research university like ASU and the work that will be done in the Materials-to-Fab Center will lead to breakthroughs and acceleration that enable chip manufacturers in the United States to lead the world in developing the technology that we need today and in the future,” Crow says.
